Evan Vucci, Associated Press Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., talks with Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, outside the Woodside Hospice where Schiavo is a patient. Click photo for larger image. Related story Updates from The Associated Press

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., last night visited the hospice of Terri Schiavo last night to say prayers with the family of the severely brain-damaged woman whose feeding and hydration tube was removed 12 days ago by court order.

Santorum was the first member of Congress to visit the hospice where she is being cared for. He was scheduled to take part in a Social Security forum in Tampa yesterday, but it was canceled in what his aides described as a gesture of respect for Schiavo's family.

"This is about trying to do right by a woman who legally is being wronged by the system," said Santorum, who took a leading role last week in passing the law that allowed Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to plead their case anew in federal court.

That effort failed. But early today, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta agreed to consider the Schindlers' petition for a new hearing on whether to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.

The parents argued that the federal district court "committed plain error when it reviewed only the state court case and outcome history." Now, the court is considering the request for a new trial rather than whether the state court rulings have met legal standards under Florida law, which is what federal courts have done in the case until now.

Santorum said yesterday that he was continuing to make calls at the state and federal level, but the situation "doesn't look good."

"My feeling is she is still alive and to keep trying," he said. "We've been trying all avenues."

Earlier yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson offered counsel to the Schindler family and called on reluctant Florida lawmakers to once again take up legislation that would allow her feeding and hydration tube to be reinserted.

	Steve Nesius, Associated Press Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri Schiavo's sister, stands with her husband Michael Vitadamo as they listen to the Rev. Jesse Jackson outside the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. Click photo for larger image.

Jackson's appearance on Schiavo's twelfth day without food or water -- the result of a five-year legal battle between her parents and her husband -- lent a new dimension to the battle.

Until now, conservative Christian and anti-abortion activists have formed the core of group that has supported efforts to keep their daughter alive. Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, has said his wife would not have wanted to live in what doctors describe as a "persistent vegetative state," and his view has been upheld in countless state and federal court decisions.

But Jackson, the leader of the Rainbow/Push Coalition who was invited to Florida by Schiavo's family, said he believed Schiavo's death by dehydration and starvation was "immoral" and "inhumane." Schiavo suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago due to a lack of oxygen to the brain related to a potassium imbalance.

Jackson spent part of his morning calling members of the Florida Senate -- and specifically members of the black caucus -- asking them to revive legislation that failed last week for emergency intervention in the Schiavo case.

Under the legislation before the Florida Senate, a patient in a "persistent vegetative state" could not be denied food and water unless they had written instructions asking doctors to do so.

The legislation would have affected only patients where that wish was in dispute among family members. Jackson said he was focused on convincing Florida lawmakers who voted against the bill to change their vote.

Schiavo's father said yesterday that his daughter was still alert.

"She's failing," Bob Schindler said. "She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances, but you can see the impact that twelve days without food and water is having on her... We still have her. It's not too late to save her."

Yesterday evening the family made a personal appeal to Michael Schiavo, who is in a relationship with woman and has two children with her.

"You have your own children," Mary Schindler said. "Please, please give my child back to me."